There was this guy, a spec, who was posted into my company. He told us that his job nature required him to be overseas very much and it was difficult to keep coming back for ICT. Putting ourselves in his shoes, we just thought, sure, just work through this ICT and hope he will be deferred indefinitely. Won't give him any extra responsibilities or expect too much from him.
Turned out that he was one extremely whiny guy. While he could work quite well sometimes, he bitched and whined so much that he affected the mood of everyone around him. And there was no shutting up. It was complain-this-and-that whenever he could have an audience. He would raise his voice at people around him, and make crack comments, totally unbefitting of an adult. Perhaps the rest of us just wanted to quietly and efficiently deal with our time in the army and just let it slide. No point getting ourselves riled up. And then there were 2 incidences where I could not "forgive" him for...
Incident 1
He overheard some superiors making snide comments that could be perceived as being directed at us. With that, he came back to where the rest of us were and used a furious tone to describe the whole situation and blasted about how he was gonna complain all the way up in the organization. At that point of time, having heard so much rubbish from him, I wasn't about to listen to his nonsense without more than a pinch of salt. But just as I was about to dismiss what he was saying totally, one of the more mature guys managed to calm him down and tried to let him get into the right perspective. That helped me as well, for with that, I decided to find out a bit more and then perhaps give him some sort of a follow-up or even closure.
Something else happened later the next day, which led me to believe that he did not hear the full story, though part of his perspective was undoubtly right. While the superiors were not insulting us specifically, the words that they had used were totally inappropriate. (Having said that, I am not beyond believing that he was making up those words...)
A more refined person would not have made such a scene, and would have seeked resolution in a more progressive manner ... but he did not ... and frankly, I thought it was beyond the call of duty to set him on the right path.
Incident 2
As a specialist, he was granted the authority to command the men to do the work. Sure that this was his first time with the gang, so it might be difficult to get everyone to cooperate. During one of the last days, most of the guys went off without helping the few of them handle the stores. Upon seeing me and the 2IC, he shouted at us to get our attention and then barked his complaints, that the other people were not helping out. I was pretty hot for a couple of reasons: (1) he raised his voice and shouted at us and (2) this was something he was supposed to be able to handle. In response, I shot back ... "Do you know what you are doing ... shouting at us ...". Luckily for us, another guy nearby said something totally unrelated and we ignored the insane guy.
Well, I certainly hope he gets his wish, to be deferred or better yet, be transferred completely out of our unit. It would be absolutely unfortunate if he were to appear for our next ICT. Then again, if he is really around the next time, perhaps I will spend a little time to give this kid a basic education. (Imagine me cracking my knuckles)
